crooked house

Happy Holidays from the Crooked House, Mom Version

One of these years we'll get organized (haha) and get someone else to take the photos so we can all be in the same picture. Anyway, happy holidays to you and yours!

Happy Holidays from the Crooked House, Dad Version

So I never did get around to making a card or even an e-card out of our family Christmas photos. My last minute plan was to make the e-card on Christmas Eve and send it out on the day but I was felled by a virus on Christmas Eve, which made for a wobbly Christmas Day. There is a lot of work involved in Christmas when you are a mother and things sort of fall apart when you're not on your game. But we muddled through.

Here is Sylvie, getting angry because the yellow ornament sticker will not stick to David if she puts it on upside down, which is, in her opinion, the only option.

Here she decides to give it a try our way.

 

I love the pleased look on Luke's face here and also the fact that I did not try to comb an already grumpy Sylvie's hair. This is what she looks like most days.

 

Last Minute Gift Suggestion for Doodlers of Any Age

I picked up The Usborne Book of Drawing, Doodling and Colouring for Christmas for the kids the other day and I love it. They're always begging me to colour with them and these illustrations and suggestions for doodling are attractive enough to interest me, too. Luke's awfully patient when Sylvie scribbles all over his work but I just might have to get one of these to keep to myself.

Here are just a few of the pages. Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Sylvie, the Queen Mother?

Luke and I were just watching footage of Princess Diana's car accident on youtube and looking at google images of the royal family whilst discussing the possibility that Prince William will succeed Queen Elizabeth instead of Prince Charles -- as you do when you are a Canadian, much as Americans idly discuss, I don't know, say Paris Hilton's hair extensions of an evening -- when we noticed that Sylvie bears an uncanny resemblance to the Queen Mother. We should get her to an astrologer pronto. If she is her reincarnation, maybe she could get us tickets to the upcoming royal wedding.

Lego Bricks and Paper

Lego collaborated with Muji to make this cool Bricks and Paper toy.

Walk Around the Block with the Hipstamatic

This is a house around the corner -- I think of it as the extremely straight house, as opposed to our crooked one. It always looks so tidy and never more so than at Christmas time, when it has matching wreaths on every window and large floodlights to show it off at night. All the photos in the post were taken with the Hipstamatic for the iPhone, which I am loving.

A different Christmassy house in the neighbourhood, a different setting on the Hipstamatic.

Luke tells me he prefers "coloured lights and animals" to our bland white lights. This is down the street from us.

Someone's front door display. They have a huge sign that says GREETINGS above the door, which didn't show up.

Another house in the 'hood, a really big one.

Luke and I and his orange monkey.

The two final shots are of our front door -- I can't tell you what Hipstamatic settings these are because by the end of the walk my fingers were freezing and I was just shaking the iPhone to randomly change them.

Welcome to the Future

This will blow your mind. I am going to download the free sample of the Word Lens app right now. (Note: only the English/Spanish version is available right now. Can't wait for the French.) I've recently downloaded two other really fun apps: the Hipstamatic and Talking Carl. The Hipstamatic takes vintage-looking photos and some people can get really cool results with it. I've been playing with it for a couple of days and will share soon. Talking Carl, who repeats whatever the children say to him in a funny voice, keeps them occupied for ages.

I wish everyone could afford to have an iPhone. Apps like these would make fantastic stocking stuffers.

It's Time To...

Freak Out and Throw Stuff.

Rustic Homespun Area Rug

Since five-year-old Luke was born, we've gone through four inexpensive area rugs in the living room. I let the kids eat in there, you see, and play and craft and muck about. I guess you could call our interior design style "Comfortable Squalour." So when I saw this post on Apartment Therapy about making a large area rug by hand-stitching together a few small cheap mats with a contrasting yarn, I was all over it. The one on Apartment Therapy was made out of three mats; I used four. And I'd really like to an add extra mat, I think, and then make another two area rugs the same size and finally stitch all three together for an extra large area rug that would completely cover our pine floor. But in order to do that, I'd have to trim the fringe off the mats. I'm not sure if it's possible to do that without having the rugs completely unravel. What do you think?

Telling T-Shirts

The "unreliable narrator" t-shirt.

The "careful or you'll end up in my next novel" t-shirt.